Drug testing using animals
animals became
important in the twentieth century. In 1937,
a pharmaceutical company in the USA
created a preparation of sulfanilamide, using
diethylene glycol (DEG) as a solvent, and
called the preparation Elixir Sulfanilamide'.
DEG was poisonous to humans, but the
company's chief pharmacist and chemist
was not aware of this. He simply added
raspberry flavoring to the sulfa drug, which
he had dissolved in DEG, and the company
marketed the product. The preparation led
to mass poisoning causing the deaths of
more than a hundred people. No animal
testing was done. The public outcry caused
by this incident and other similar disasters
led to the passing of the 1938 Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act requiring safety
testing of drugs on animals before they could
be marketed.​